This Bandra cloud kitchen will help you indulge in a healthy diet this summer

Taco salad

There is a strong case to be made for the undeniably transitionary powers an early summer month like March possesses in a city like Mumbai. Sweatpants morph into shorts and we're lovingly re-acquainted with our air conditioners. This, as the sultry weather outside all but takes over our entire being.

Summer fruit salad

But it's also a time when the landscape of our dining table gets an overhaul. Freed from the excesses of our ‘winter' indulgence, it's now populated mostly by light soups, crisp salads and other coolants to help us navigate our way towards our resolute ‘summer diets'.

Mediterranean salad

Keeping this in mind, we recently called for a tasting of a few summer specials from the aptly named Craving Salad. This Bandra West-based delivery-only service - by former New York resident-turned-Mumbaikar Shaheen Nag - has on its menu a number of interesting, well-priced salad boxes, fruity vinaigrette-based dressings, and chia pudding-granola jars.

Oats chia go nuts jar with granol

Attractively packaged in orange paper boxes with transparent windows to give us a glimpse into the contents, our three chosen salads arrive crisp and on time at our mid-town residence. Each box holds forth enough salad to feed three people.

Craving Salad offers a range of 250-ml vinaigrettes

The taco salad (Rs 199) is a textural and taste overload with its base composed of black beans, sweet corn and cherry tomatoes - all given ample bolstering by the chopped lettuce and other mixed salad leaves like lollo rosso and arugula. Add-ons of chopped grilled chicken (Rs 100) and hass avocado slices (R150), along with crumbly nachni chips standing in for regular nachos and a fruity mango vinaigrette drizzle, make this one a winner.

And speaking of dressings, Craving Salad also does a range of vinaigrettes like the aforementioned mango vinaigrette (Rs 300), BBQ sauce (Rs 300) and honey-mustard dressing (Rs 350), among a few others that are all packed in 250-ml jars. Being preservative-free, they have a shelf life of only a week, we are informed.

Shaheen Nag

A zesty lime vinaigrette sees itself as the main star of our Mediterranean salad (Rs 199). Bearing hints of oregano and thyme, this tasty salad has a chickpea and cucumber base. Along with the usual three-leaf support acts and torn mint leaves thrown into the fray, blobs of feta cheese (R150) and grilled chicken (R100) are our chosen extras that give this one some additional
protein heft.

For a sweet interlude, we dig into the vegan coconut milk-based oats chia go nuts jar (Rs 450) that is accompanied by granola. Though delicious, we find it a tad pricey with respect to its size. Also, we'd have liked it to be a bit sweeter. But we remedy this by adding a splodge of agave syrup to it that we had lying in our pantry.

Our afternoon's final tasting is that of the appropriately named summer fruit salad (R250). This iteration has blueberries, whole grapes (black and green) and chopped apples along with the hipster chic duo of kale and quinoa. Toasted almond flakes (R100) and mixed nuts and seeds (Rs 60) are our add-ons this time round. A punchy, caramel-y balsamic vinaigrette completes the salad, leaving us satiated and craving no more.

On Monday to Saturday, 10 am to 7.30 pm
AT Craving Salad, Bandra West.
Delivery In-house agents
Log on to @cravingsalad
Call 9321781846